A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday shows a record-high number of Americans now supporting the impeachment of Donald Trump, according to a report by The Hill. For the first time in the Quinnipiac poll, 55 percent of respondents say that they now back the impeachment proceedings being overseen by Democrats in the United States House of Representatives.

However, a poll released earlier in October by The Washington Post showed 58 percent supporting Trump’s impeachment, as The Inquisitr reported. That number was up 21 points from a previous Washington Post survey taken in July, in which just 37 percent said that they favored opening impeachment proceedings against the president.

In the Quinnipiac poll, self-described Democrats and independents led the way in supporting impeachment. Among Democrats, an overwhelming 93 percent supported the process that has been underway since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the “formal” impeachment inquiry on September 24. Independents now support Trump’s impeachment at 58 percent, or eight points more than in a Quinnipiac poll taken just one week ago.

The poll, however, revealed dramatic partisan polarization in attitudes toward Trump’s impeachment. Self-described Republicans continue to oppose the impeachment process by a vast majority. Among Republicans, a full 91 percent — more than nine out of 10 — say they are against the impeachment inquiry. Only 6 percent of Republicans said that they supported impeachment, according to the Quinnipiac survey.

The current impeachment inquiry into Trump focuses on his alleged attempt to strong-arm the president of Ukraine into publicly announcing an investigation into his potential Democratic presidential opponent, Joe Biden, as The Inquisitr has reported.

But the Quinnipiac poll draws a distinction between respondents who support the impeachment inquiry into the Ukraine scandal and those who have already decided that Trump should be removed from office at the conclusion of the impeachment process.

On that issue, the public is more evenly divided, with 48 percent saying Trump should be both impeached and removed, and 46 percent saying they oppose the president’s removal from office.

The survey also asked respondents whether or not they approve of Trump’s job performance.

For the first time since the impeachment process got underway, Quinnipiac found fewer than 40 percent of Americans — 38 percent — expressing approval of Trump. With 58 percent saying that they disapprove of his performance, the president’s net approval — that is, his disapproval subtracted from his approval — stands at a negative rating of 20 points, his worst since July 2018.

In an average of all impeachment polls compiled by the political data site FiveThirtyEight, 49.6 percent now support the impeachment process. That number is down slightly from a high of 50.3 percent on October 14.